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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Leifern on October 10, 2005, 02:04:39 AM

Title: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: Leifern on October 10, 2005, 02:04:39 AM
Hi,

I've been trying to use my Competition PRO joypad wich has 6 buttons on my 1200. I've been testing it with Fifa and Total Football, but i only get to use one button.

I've tested it with Advanzed amiga analyzer and it seems that only one of the pins are able to get the "button-signal".. :roll:

I guess what i'm wondering is: Is there a way to be able to use more than one action button (i would like them to perform different actions). Total football is a pain with only one button!!! :angry:
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: leirbag28 on October 10, 2005, 02:41:33 AM

Nothing wrong with your port.........that Joystick is for the Amiga CD32 (Or maybe a Sega Genesis?)  anyway the A1200 requires lowlevel.lib to use the joysticks 6 buttons..that is if the game is the CD32 version or supports it.

try Pinball Fantasies (CD32 version)  as it uses all the buttons
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: Leifern on October 10, 2005, 03:20:28 AM
Ok.. Thanks, thats really helpfull!!! :-D

The versions that i have are both A1200 versions (Fifa is 1200 enhanced). The CompetitionPRO joystick is two button, if i get hold of the lowlevel.library will i be able to use both these buttons as seperat action buttons instead of them both being used as the same action..??

I'm not shure i understand how this works!!! :roll:
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: keropi on October 10, 2005, 06:54:55 AM
there is nothing u can do... if a game supports directly the cd32 joypad (like all cd32 games LOL) all the buttons will be used... at best you can also use the 2nd button with a well-written game, like turrican2...
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: orange on October 10, 2005, 07:53:40 AM
AFAIK, CompetitionPRO joystick two buttons are actually one button, both of them are connected to same lines, so they both have same function. (they made it symmetrical so that 'left-handed users' could use them)
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: Legerdemain on October 10, 2005, 08:11:49 AM
Hm... now I'm completely lost.

Let's start all over.

Have I got this right: One can't use the CD32 joypad together with the A1200, having all the buttons work, unless there's a way of using lowlevel.library at the same time?

So, if one had the SquirrelSCSI CD32 emulator, did it make use of lowlevel.library? Or, does WHDLoad support use of lowlevel.library?

Thing is, I don't have a CD32 joypad, so I am pretty sure that the times when I had borrowed one I had some reason to do so. And I don't ever recall the buttons not working as they should. So, one of the two above mentioned ways of playing CD32 games must have been working perfectly for me, or am I dreaming?
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: doctorq on October 10, 2005, 09:42:52 AM
Well, running a CD32 emulator kind of says it all, doesn't it???
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: odin on October 10, 2005, 10:58:31 AM
Yes, you do have a CD32 pad :-). The 'HoneyBee' or 'CompetitionPro' pad acts electrically like it's a C= CD32 pad.
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: Leifern on October 10, 2005, 11:36:14 AM
Ok.. Can anyone recomend a multi-button A1200 joystick? I also have this (http://www.scuzz.org.uk/amiga/joystick/a236_joy09.jpg) joystick, wich has 5 buttons, they are also all doing the same thing.
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: patrik on October 10, 2005, 01:15:02 PM
All Amigas have the same joystick/mouse-port hardware, so as long as the software supports a CD32 pad, there is no problem.

Via lowlevel.library which was introduced with kick3.1, you can use CD32-pads easily from the os. Actually, lowlevel.library is far from just about CD32-pads, it enables the programmer to in a simple manner read input-devices like keyboard/mouse/joystick, do timing, set some "game-handy" interrupts, and do some system-control.

If you have a game that bangs the metal, and doesnt use lowlevel.library, it can use a CD32 pad on a kick1.3 A500.


/Patrik
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: Brian on October 10, 2005, 02:06:31 PM
It's possible to hardwhire a joystick to have 3 sepperat buttons with the Amiga joystickport without any software needed. This will work with any Amiga software supporting 1, 2 or 3 buttons, though most of the software supporting 3 buttons usually support a CD32 joypad aswell.
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: _ThEcRoW on October 10, 2005, 02:16:01 PM
@patrik
So, the lowlevel.library works with ks/wb 1.3???
I could use a cd32 pad on my a500?
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: patrik on October 10, 2005, 02:21:30 PM
@_ThEcRoW:

I wrote "if you have a game that bangs the metal and doesnt use lowlevel.library". With that I mean a game that reads the joyport directly from the hardware registers and interpret the "CD32pad-protocol" by itself.

As I also wrote, lowlevel.library was introduced in kick3.1.

So - yes you can use a CD32-pad on an A500, but you wont be able to use the extra buttons unless your game supports them without lowlevel.library or if it supports them via lowlevel.library and you have kick3.1 in that A500.

If you dont understand a post, try atleast to read it one more time before posting a reply.


/Patrik
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: Leifern on October 10, 2005, 10:01:51 PM
Where can i find lowlevel.lib?
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: Brian on October 11, 2005, 06:06:36 AM
Under Sys:Libs/ of your nearest WB3.1 installasion. :)
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: Leifern on October 11, 2005, 10:25:12 AM
Hehe.. Yeah, there it is. I'm just so used to shearching the internet for LIB's i don't have. Well, i had it all along. Something else needs to be done! :-?
Title: Re: Question about the joystick port on the Amiga 1200
Post by: leirbag28 on October 19, 2005, 06:34:49 PM


Ok........here is a MORE CLEAR  explanation:

YES, you can plug the CD32 joypad (or 6 button SEGA pad)  into any Amiga...............BUT!!!!  only the red and blue buttons will work...NO MATTER WHAT!  WHy?   well like Sonic the hedgehog for instance..when it came out.there was no 6 button SEGA pad......so when the 6 button SEGA pad came out....naturally SOnic only supported 3 buttons..............this is how all AMiga games are.they only support 1 button!  except some games that were designed to use a Sega Master system pad with buttons A and B....such as Project X and Turrican games................Only Most CD32 games support the 6 Button CD32 pad (and no the 6 button SEGA wont work unless you hack it)

 Now that said...............WHDLoad enables some games wich were meant to work with only one button, use some of the CD32 pad buttons to remap weapons that were normally activated by using the space bar or FKeys etc....I believe WHDLoad CHaos Engine is one of them.............Also keep in mind that CD32games work on the A1200 which means if you install them to your A1200, then of course you can use the CD32 pad because its a CD32 game. Also kkep in mind.some CD32 games only supported 1 button because it was just a straight port from the A1200 version of the game and didnt need 6 buttons.

Oh..and very rarely you will find that the CD32 pad doesnt work at all on some old A500 games....not sure why.

Also some A1200 games were made that did support the CD32 pad...but very few....the Game that makes best use of the CD32 pad was the CD32 version of Pinball Fantasies!

Hope this clears things up.

FOr most games I recommend a Sega Master system pad or maybe a Genesis Pad........but very few support more than one button.some 2 buttons.